Automatic hearing aid adaptation over time via mobile application

Abstract

A hearing assistance system for delivering sounds to a listener provides for programming of a hearing assistance device, such as a hearing aid, using a communication link with a secondary device such as a smartphone. An example hearing assistance system may compensate for a patient's hearing deficit in a gradually progressing fashion over a configured period of absolute time, device operation time, or a combination of absolute and operation time. The hearing assistance device may be programmed by an application operating on the secondary device to successively select a parameter set that defines an operating characteristic of the signal processing circuit from a group of such parameter sets over a period of time or in response to a listener or physician input. The physician input may be received by the secondary device over a network. The defined sequence may end in a parameter set that optimally compensates the patient's hearing.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for operating a hearing aid, comprising:
 converting sound into an input signal;   receiving, at the hearing aid, a signal processing parameter from a wireless device;   filtering and amplifying the input signal in accordance with the received signal processing parameter to thereby produce an output signal;   converting the output signal into sound;   wherein the wireless device selects the signal processing parameter from set from a group of parameter sets in accordance with a real time event detected by the wireless device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: sequencing, by the wireless device, through the group of parameter sets from an initial parameter set to a final parameter set. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the final parameter set is designed to optimally compensate for a particular patient's hearing deficit. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising sequencing through the group of parameter sets in accordance with elapsed time intervals. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining an initial model for the listener using a hearing loss profile of the listener. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising determining the hearing loss profile using an audiogram of the listener. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising: calculating, by the wireless device, an optimized signal processing parameter at least in part based on the hearing loss profile of the listener. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the wireless device comprises a user interface, a network communication module configured to communicate with the hearing aid. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the wireless device is a smartphone or tablet computer. 
     
     
         10 . A method for fitting a hearing aid to a patient, comprising:
 testing the patient to determine a target signal processing parameter set that compensates for the patient's hearing deficit, where a signal processing parameter set defines at least one operative characteristic of the hearing aid's signal processing circuit; and,   programming to select a signal processing par899ameter set for use by the signal processing circuitry by sequencing through a group of signal processing parameter sets over time in accordance with real time events so that the patient's hearing is gradually compensated at increasingly targeted levels until the target signal processing parameter set is reached;   wherein the wireless device to communicate wirelessly with the hearing aid and a second device.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the second device is configured to provide a notification of the sequencing of the group of signal processing parameter sets to a hearing professional or a manufacturer of the hearing aid.